Cheaper by the covern DEUX
by RosarioN
Summary: What if it wasn't just the girls personalities that got reverted? Victor and Patty get a crash course in parenting while Wyatt and Chris run amok in the past..
1. Chapter 1

" I really don't think this is a good idea" Victor Bennett cautioned

"piffle" came the reply as Penny "Grams"Halliwell, matriarch of the Halliwell family, riffled through her old spell book.

"Piper will lose it if she finds out that you've cast a spell on her children" Victor continued as he strode across the attic to where Grams stood.

"That's ok then, because she's not going to find out is she?" it was a statement not a question, nobody questioned Grams, they all obeyed her, that was the rules, didn't this idiotic mortal know this by now?

"Look" she said speaking slowly and carefully as if conversing with a three year old. " I cast a quick and painless spell to erase the boys sibling rivalry, they stop fighting, Piper relaxes, we have our wiccaning, everyone's a winner. The girls are downstairs what they don't know can't hurt them can it?"

Victor did have to agree with her on that score, but still… " I 'm not sure.." he began only to be cut off by Grams raising her hand as if to silence him.

" I'm the expert here Victor, I'm the one who dealt with the girls' rivalry as they grew up , I'm the one who knows best."

With that the formidable witch gathered her two great-grandsons by her side. "there we are my darlings, just wait here a minute." She set them both down in the play pen.

"just hurry up" Victor hissed, glancing nervously at the door.

Penny ignored this and turned her attention back to the boys and began to recite " Cast your petty jealousies into darkest night, let these feuding siblings no longer fight"

As soon as the final word left her lips the room was suddenly engulfed in a bright blue light.

_Jeez_ thought Victor as he shielded his eyes, _I may know nothing about witchcraft but I'm sure that wasn't supposed to happen._

There was a scream, and a crashing noise coming from the corner of the room. The light faded and victors eyes slowly came into focus, he noticed the play pen was broken into pieces, and standing in the middle of the debris was ….

"Grandpa!" 20 year old Wyatt bounded across the room and enveloped his grandfather into a hug.

"Grams. What did you do?" 18 year old Chris asked as he brushed the dust from his jeans.

"That's exactly what I'd like to know" Victor turned to face his ex-mother in law.

"there's really no problem" said grams, her face suggesting otherwise. "slight hiccup that's all, let me just cast a quick reversal…."

"No!" Victor cut in. "It was you casting a "quick spell" that got us into this mess, "I know what I'm doing blah blah…Piper will never know yadda yadda" don't you think she might notice that her infant sons are now all grown up. This is what happens when you start using magic"

" You think you can reverse this without using magic the do you?" said Penny stubbornly, hating to admit that she was at fault. " well go ahead and try!" she shouted as she disappeared in a cloud of orb lights.

"COME BACK" Victor shouted raising his eyes heavenward. Typical of that woman he thought, nothing but destruction and mayhem wherever she goes.

"Um grandpa" Wyatt ventured. "Are we in the past?"

"Yes, your grandmother cast a spell to stop your sibling rivalry and.."

"oh crap" Chris groaned as Wyatt slapt himself on the forehead.

"what?" Victor sensed this was not good a sign.

"We learnt about that spell in Magic School, it was part of our "Introduction to the dangers of home made Spells" course, .."

"Danger, what danger?"

"Well, you see" but before Chris could venture any further they were interrupted by the sounds of orbs

"So you've decided to come back and fix this mess" Victor drawled sarcastically as he turned around, only to find his former wife materialising in front of him.

"sorry I'm late" Patty apologised as she stepped out of the circle and became corporal, " The elders wanted a quick word. ….what mess?" She looked questioningly at her former husband "oh" she caught sight of her two oldest grandchildren

"hi grandma" the brothers chorused.

"What happened?"

"Your mother _happened _ that's what." Victor tried to remain calm. "she cast a spell to try and stop the jealousy between baby Chris and Wyatt, it went wrong…"

" As I was saying" Chris interrupted. As his grandparents turned to hear his explanation." We learnt about this spell in class. When you make up your own spells you have to be extremely careful with the wording, the slightest alteration and the whole thing can back fire. Grams must have gotten the words mixed up. Anyway, what happened, is that instead of erasing our jealousy from our infant selves, she changed us to the age when we finally _out grew_ our jealousy"

"Hence, Adult us" Wyatt explained.

"Well that's ok," Victor was relieved. "We get your mother and aunts up here, reverse the spell and hey presto, back to normal!" Patty nodded in agreement

"you mean to say _mum and the aunts are in the house_?" Chris squeaked.

"double crap" Wyatt muttered

"Yes" Victor replied cautiously, not wanting to hear the answer.

"Dammit !" Chris cursed " if any siblings are within ½ a mile radius of the spell being cast, the jealousy thing effects them, only in reverse"

"meaning?" even Patty was confused now.

"meaning" Wyatt explained, " if we are now at the age when we _out grew_ our jealousy.."

"The girls are at the age they were when their sibling rivalry was at its height" Victor finished. He cast a glance at hi ex-wife, they both suddenly made a beeline for the door.

"I hope they're ok" Patty cried as they raced down the stairs. Arriving on the bottom step they heard voices from the living room.

"you give that back Phoebe, its mine" Piper screamed.

"is not"

"is"

"is not"

"is"

"is not"

Patty and Victor skidded to a holt in the doorway, to find 7 year old Piper and 3 ½ year old Phoebe squabbling over a bar of chocolate.

"Mommy, Daddy" they cried, as Phoebe grabbed Victors leg, and Piper hugged their mother.

"Hello my darlings " they replied, Victor scooping Phoebe up in his arms, and Patty planting a kiss on Pipers cheek.

Chris and Wyatt, hot on their grandparents heals, jumped the last few stairs and entered the living room.

"Sweet Jesus is that mom?..shes soo cute" Wyatt's eyes bugged out of his head.

"uh where's aunt Paige?" Chris enquired glancing around the room

"bah" a noise from the corner of the room suddenly caught the adults attention. Patty rushed over to the Play-pen, inside sat a 14 month old baby with little black curls and big brown eyes. She lent over and picked the child up. "Mama?" The baby seemed to ask.

" Yes darling" Patty replied, turning to face the adults "I think we've found her"

Victor gently placed Phoebe down, and walked over to his ex-wife"What the hell are we going to do?..."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

"What the hell are we going to do?" Victor repeated.

"I don't know" Patty replied as she balanced Paige on her hip. " I doubt there is a reversal spell in the book of shadows if this is an improvised spell besides" she gestured to her two older daughters " the power of 3 is some what impaired at the moment."

Whilst her parents were busy worrying about what to do, 7 year old Piper stood hand –on- hip staring at the two big boys who kept watching her. "what are you looking at?" she asked them in her best menacing voice, putting a protective arm around Phoebe who had since been released from Victors grasp and had wandered over to join her sister.

Wyatt, took a fresh glance at the young incarnation of his mother, dressed in blue dungarees with her hair in bunches, and couldn't help but burst out laughing. " nothing mom" he tittered, " nothing at all"

"Mom?" Mini Piper wrinkled up her nose " why is he calling me mom?"

"Because" Chris jumped in to save the day " because you like bossing us around and telling us what to do so we nick named you, mom"

Piper seemed to consider this, a smile began to spread across her face. " I like that idea…but do I know you?"

Wyatt collapsed onto the sofa, clutching his sides, " d d d does she know u u u us…classic!"

Trying to ignore his brother Chris continued. " sure you do, we just uh, moved next door"

Again Piper seemed to contemplate this, "ok" she agreed. " so, does that mean I'm the boss of you?"

Back across the otherside of the room, Victor and Patty were trying their best to remain calm.

"you could go back-up-there and ask for help?" He suggested.

"But then they might not let me come back down again, besides we…Ouch." Patty cursed. Paige, bored of the lack of attention had grabbed a fistful of her mothers hair and was trying to put it in her mouth. "Paige! No, Naughty Girl ! " she admonished. The baby looked up at her, her big brown eyes began to fill with tears and her bottom lip began to quiver. "no, no I didn't mean it" Patty began to back peddle, but it was too late,

"Wahhhhhhhhh" the baby began to cry at the top of her lungs.

"this just gets better" Victor sighed as he sank wearily onto the nearest chair.

"Daddy" a little voice to his left called. "What sweet heart?" he lifted Phoebe onto his lap, trying to block out the sound of Paige's screams.

"whos that?" Phoebe asked.

"whos who? darling" victor replied rubbing his temples.

"the baby"

"dam" Victor swore,

"you said a **_bad _**word" Phoebe said in an acusatory tone.

_Hell,crap, arse , feck_, he shouted mentally. He'd forgotten just how careful you had to be around little ones. "yes, yes I did, and I shouldn't have said it" Victor had to shout to make himself heard over the noise of the crying which seemed if anything to be getting louder.

"so, who is the dumb baby anyway?" this time it was Piper who asked, jealous that Phoebe was taking up all their fathers attention.

"_She_ is your little sister" Victor explained

"we don't got a little sister" Phoebe said " I'm the littlest"

"its have_, have_ a little sister"Victor corrected " I don't _have_ a little sister"

"but daddy" Piper interupted, " _you_ don't have a little sister, you just that baby was ours?"

"look , I'll explain it all to you later, right now, I need to help your mother ok?"

With the vain in his temple threatening to explode Victor made his way back over to Patty who was rocking Paige back and forth.

" I don't know what to, she just won't stop crying" His ex-wife was practically in tears herself. " I'm a terrible mother…I can't even calm my own child…."

"Patty" Victor attempted to reassure her but found himself being cut off

"no, I know why..its because I abandoned her isn't it….this is my punishment…" She rambled.

Victor was at a loss as to what to say, as he knew from experience that his she wouldn't even be listening to him anyway. Finally help arrived in the form of Wyatt, who had managed to pull himself together, and stop laughing every 2 minutes.

"here Grandma, pass her to me" he instructed.

Patty seemed reluctant, but looking around the room she spotted Piper and Phoebe putting cushions over their ears to block out the noise, Victor rubbing his head and Chris trying to pretend that he wasn't wishing himself to be on a desert Island, slowly she relenquished the baby into Wyatts outstrectshed arms.

Taking hold of his aunt, Wyatt began to bounce her gently on his knee whilst softly humming a lullaby "hush little baby don't you cry, mummys gonna buy a mocking bird…" within what felt like seconds Paige fell silent, and was smiling up at her nephew.

"How did you do that?" Patty asked.

"Practice and inside knowledge" Wyatt smiled.

"Inside knowledge?"

"Its what always works on Paige's daughter in the future, so I guessed that it might work on her mother too"

"well thank you"

"you're welcome"

"Ok" Now, that She could think properly Patty decided to take control. " I say, we call for Leo, perhaps he can orb up to Elderland and ask them what the solution is"

"good idea" Victor agreed.

"Cool" Wyatt chimed in, "We get to see what Dad looked like back in the naughties!"

"LEO" Patty shouted

The words had barely escaped her mouth before the sounds of orbs signeled that the elder was about to arrive.

Leo materialised in the middle of the room, slowly taking in the scene around him he looked first from Patty ,Victor and baby Paige, over to 2 little dark haired girls that he recognised as Piper and Phoebe, until finally his eyes rested on…

"Chris?" Leo croaked. " Is that really you?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Chris" Leo cried, rushing forward and grabbing hold of his youngest son. "look at you! It's alright, you're ok, we didn't loose you"

"Da belurgh" Chris attempted to speak, but Leo's tight embrace had restricted his wind pipe.

"ugh, Hi dad" Wyatt interrupted, " I'm here too you know"

Leo let go of Chris, and stepped back slightly to look at his sons properly.

"Its good to see you too Dad" Chris joked, but couldn't help wondering if perhaps his father had had some sort of mental issues back in 2004. "care to explain why you think I might not be ok?"

Leo looked at his youngest son, who seemed relatively care free, and definitely not half as nuerotic as ther last time he had seen him, he also seemed slightly different fromt eh original chris who had come back to the future….and suddenly it clicked.

"how old are you?" he asked

"I'm 20" Wyatt replied, talking slowly and carefully as if to a young child, because jeez for someone who wyatt had always considered so intelligent, his father seemed to be not quite with it. " so that makes Chris 18 doesn't it"

"oh, that means, chris hasn't yet come….oh but then he doesn't need to now, …so won't remember any,ah hah…."

"hey leo" Victor interrupted. " I hate to break up this reunion but can we get back to the task in hand? That is to say why we called you here in the first place"

"yeah, yeah, absolutely" Leo turned round to find mini Piper staring at him shyly, while mini Phoebe had attached herself to her father's leg, and baby Paige was once again attempting to eat some of Patty's hair. "so what happened again?"

"well several decades ago Penny was born, and then today one of her spells back fired and turned the girls back into children"

"So we need you to orb up there and ask the elders for a reversal spell" Patty continued " Paige, please leave mummy's hair alone, its not nice"

"I'll see what I can do" Leo promised as he orbed himself heaven ward

The kitchen phone began to ring "Wyatt can you get that please" Victor cried , finding that mobility is a problem when one has a toddler hugging one's right leg. "Phoebe sweetheart, daddy can't move if you stay there"

"exactly" the 3 year-old grinned " I no want you to go no where"

"yes, but…."

"who was that man?" Piper spoke up. "he seemed really nice"

Fortunately Victor was saved the job of explaining to his daughter that the nice man was in fact her future husband, or ex husband, or whatever their status currently was, by Wyatt returning.

"that was the club, mom booked a band tonight and there's some problem about them setting up, and a delivery has been mixed up or something, someone needs to go down there and sort it out."

"well tell them that we are otherwise engaged" snapped Patty, who had decided that the only way to stop Paige from going any where near her hair was to return her to the playpen. However the baby didn't look too happy about this. "Victor does it look as if her her bottom lip trembling to you? Or is it just wind.. …? She's going to start crying again isn't she….oh god, we only just got her to stop…oh no..Paigey-woo I didn't mean it..oh look…...its stopped moving..maybe she was just breathing out of her mouth…dammit why can't babies talk properly…."

" we'll go" Chris volunteered before his grandmother started crying herself. " Wy and I help mom out all the time in the future"

" I don't think so" Victor replied " we need all hands on deck here"

"Grandpa, I am sure you and Grandma can cope with three little girls, you did once before remember, you're just out of practice. Besides, mom's so going to blow your ass up if you let her club go to rack and ruin"

"You have such a way with words Christopher" Patty said, not entirely sure if she liked being called grandma, "but you do have a point"

"Cool" Wyatt grabbed his coat " Come on lil bro, lets go check out 2004"

"you'll be fine" Chris assured them as he dashed out the door.

"wish I could feel that confident" Victor grumbled.


	4. Chapter 4

" but I don't want to eat them daddy they're icky" Phoebe moaned as she pushed her plate away.

"look daddy I've eaten mine" Piper smiled smugly at her younger sister. " I'm a good girl aren't I?"

Victor was at a loss. He was an accomplished business man, he had negotiated contracts, sweet talked investors and held the floor in hundreds of board room meetings. .His verbal reasoning skills were perfectly honed, yet he could not get a 3 year old to eat her dinner. He and Patty had decided to divide and conquer, she was upstairs attempting to give Paige a bath, and Victor had been assigned what had originally appeared to be the easier task, giving the older girls dinner, however he hadn' t realised that carrots could be such a bone of contention.

"just one more mouthful honey please?" he pleaded.

"nuh-huh" Phoebe shook her head vigorously

"Phoebe" Victor warned, as he stole a quick glance at his watch, it had been 3 hours since Chris and Wyatt had run off to work at the club and Leo had orbed up to elder land. There had been no sign of any of them since.

"yeah Pheeeebeeee" Piper stuck her tongue out.

"Aghnhhh" A scream came from upstairs.

"Phoebe" Victor continued " I'm just going to run upstairs and check on your mother ok? When I come back down I expect to see that plate empty"

"Yes Daddy" Phoebe beamed, busily shovelling her meal into a nearby plant pot.

Victor took the stairs two at a time landing with a thud at the top, relieved to have escaped carrot-gate for a moment. He entered the second floor bathroom to find his ex-wife not looking dissimilar to a drowned rat, water was dripping from her hair and face, and a large damp patch had turned her white shirt transparent. Baby Paige sat in the tub, a devilish grin on her tiny face.

"what's going on here?" he asked taking in the tableau. "I thought you were giving Paige a bath?"

"No," Patty spluttered, "She's giving me a bath, she keeps orbing her rubby ducky at my head every time I go to shampoo her hair, I may as well get in the tub with her…its as if she's deliberately attention seeking…I don't know why she's only a baby…."

Victor shrugged "beats me" he bent down so that he was eye-level "hey cutey why are you acting up huh?"

"Dadda?" Paige asked quizzically.

" Um , no" he coughed, blushed slightly and stood back up. "w w what was I saying again" he asked slightly flustered.

Patty stood to face him, attempting to wring some of the water out of her top in the process. "Any sign from Leo or the boys yet?"

"No, I'm not to worried about the boys yet, when Chris came back to the past the first time he seemed to have a pretty sensible head on his shoulders. It's Leo I'm worried about, I know they say no, news is good news, but this is seriously taking the piss"

" I agree, perhaps we should " Patty was interrupted by a spray of water hitting her. "Paigey!"

"I think I'd better leave you to this" Victor made for the door " I need to mediate in the vegetable crisis"

"now what did you do that for" Patty asked the baby, attempting to sound stern, but failing miserably as Paige grinned and handed her a rubber duck with a big grin on her face. Tears welled up in her eyes and Patty felt strangely emotional. "My darling baby girl" she sniffed as she stroked Paige's head. "if I could only have done this with you the first time round."

Down stairs Victor arrived in the dinning room to find anarchy brewing. "Phoebe emptied her dinner into the plant pot" Piper informed him, the second his foot stepped over the threshold.

"did not"

"did too"

"did so"

"so did not!"

"you're just a big fat liar"

"yeah well I'm rubber and your glue so whatever you.."

"GIRLS" Victor roared, deciding that on retrospect he would much rather have given a magical baby a bath than enter into a battle over food, but he had made his choice. He also felt his respect for Penny treble by the hour, not that he would ever, not even under pain of torture admit that, especially not to her face.

His daughters turned to look at him. "Phoebe" he began, " you need to eat all your vegetables so that you grow up big and strong"

"hah" Piper shot her younger sister an I-told-you-so-look.

"And Piper" Victor continued " It is not nice to tell tales"

"hah to you too" Phoebe retorted.

"Now apologise" Victor insisted.

"But Daddy" Phoebe whined "you told us to always speak the truth"

"and..?" Victor was not sensing the problem.

"I not sorry, I lie if I say sorry to Piper" She explained patiently

Fortunately Victor was saved the need to reply, but the familiar sound of orbs, as his son-in-law materialised in the room.

"Leo" Victor cried "What did they say?"

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

-1"Well?" Victor repeated. "what did they say?"

"It's um, kinda, well, you see…"Leo couldn't quite look his father-in-law in the eye, however he was saved the need to answer immediately by a shout from Piper.

"Ow! Owie Owie Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddy!"

"What now?" Victor mumbled as he turned back to face his eldest daughter.

"She hit me" Piper exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Phoebe.

"No I didn't" Phoebe shouted back.

"ENOUGH" Victor roared. "to bed with the pair of you, come on!"

"Its not my bed time yet Daddy its too early" Piper sulked, her bottom lip sticking out.

" I don't care" Victor was firm.

"I don't think its too early, I think little girls need their sleep" Leo, ever the mediator decided to interrupt before things descended into a shouting match once again, which judging by the expression on Victors face would be in exactly 3 seconds.

"Really?" Piper looked up at him, blushing slightly. "Ok, but only cos _you_ say so" she said, shooting her father a pointed look.

"whatever" Victor was passed caring. " You're both going to sleep in Phoebe's bed tonight ok, go ahead and get ready, and I will be up in a minute to tuck you in"

"Nighty Nighty" Phoebe called. She grabbed Piper's hand and the two of them padded upstairs.

" You were saying…?" Victor focused his attention back to Leo.

"Yes..I ..um" His feet began to shuffle about nervously, as if doing an involuntary waltz. Before he could work his way up to reaching the salsa, Victor interrupted

"Please , Leo, I have had a long, and quite frankly one of the most bizzare days in my life, whatever you have to say, good or bad just hit me with it ok?"

"Ok" Leo began, "But you're not going to like it…."

Patty awoke the next morning to find herself in her own bed for the first time in nearly 30 years. She vaguely remembered crawling into it, at some point late last night, but the exhaustion had encroached on her memory and it was all a bit blurry. The slight snoring sound coming from her left indicated that she was not alone, and that she had in fact shared a bed with Victor for the first time in nearly 30 years too. She attempted to move her head slightly but found she was impeded by a little foot resting on her ear. Baby Paige was fast asleep, cushioned on the pillow between her and Victor. Gently moving her over slightly, and pulling herself into a sitting position Patty realised that Paige wasn't the only visitor, Piper and Phoebe lay snuggled in between their parents.

Phoebe, awoken by the movement next to her, leaped up immediately to give her mother a hug. " Morning Mummy!" She cried.

"Shhh sweetie, some people are still asleep"

"Okay"

"How did you and Piper end up here?"

"Piper had a bad dweem and was shouting and….."

"And Phoebe wouldn't sleep in her room without me cos she was scared too" Piper sat up rubbing her eyes.

"And Paige orbed here" Phoebe added, giving Piper a dark look.

"orbed?"

"she orbed in, after me and Phoebe got here, daddy tried to put her back in her own bed 3 times, but in the end he gave up"

"Anyone up yet?" a disembodied voice called from the hallway , with that Chris stuck his head around the door.

"almost, Patty replied. "what time did you two get back last night?"

"about 3" came the reply " it was real busy, me and Wy were working the bar and then Dad came and helped out at the end, they're both asleep still"

"Did Leo, tell you what the Elders said?"

"No, he said that he told Grandpa, who was going to speak to you in the morning, and then he'd tell us"

"Did he now? Well, we'll see about that!" Patty, like her mother, was not one to be crossed. " Take your mother and Phoebe downstairs and give them breakfast, your Grandfather and I need to talk."

"Ok" Chris was relieved, if Grandma Patty was anything like Piper, he sure didn't want to stick around,

while she and Grandpa "talked"

"Come on you two" he called, as Piper and Phoebe scrambled out of bed. "Let's go eat."

Patty watched them disappear. Lifting sleeping Paige up gently, she carried her into the nursery and placed her down in the crib, and shut the door. Striding purposely back into the bedroom she grabbed Victor by the shoulder and gave him a shake.

"Victor!" she hissed.

"urghhhh" Victor mumbled, his eyes still closed. "what time is it?"

"Never mind all that " Patty continued. " What did Leo tell you?

"jeez, Patty give me 10 minutes to wake up, some of us are getting old"

"No" Patty began to tap her foot, which Victor knew from experience was not a good sign. " I want answers and I want them _now_!"

"alright" Victor dragged himself into the sitting positon, and with a monumental amount of effort, he opened his eyes. He looked at his ex-wife and braced himself for the up-coming explosion." Leo said that the Elder's can't change them back…"

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Victor braced himself for the explosion, he expected some shouting, ranting, raving, an expression of shock, or even some cries of disbelief and in truth did Patty look as if she was about to hit someone. Before she had the chance a baby's cries were heard from the other room. Victor made to continue with his explanation, but she raised her hands as if to silence him.

"One moment" was all she said, in a flat emotionless voice, making it extremely hard to gage how she had just taken the news.

Patty turned and walked back into the nursery, picking up baby Paige who had now gone bright pink.

"Paigey" she cooed, can you orb down to Chris for me please?" The baby looked at her, her tiny face all scrunched up, she leant forward and attempted to grab some hair.

"No Paigey" Patty was firm "I need you to orb to Chris for me". The baby shook her little head.

"Chris!" Patty carried the baby over to the bedroom door and yelled, "Call Paige please"

"Paige!" a voice bellowed from below, and almost instantaneously the baby felt herself involuntarily orbing down to the kitchen and into the waiting arms of her nephew.

"Now" Patty turned her attention back to Victor. "What the hell do you mean they can't turn them back, what on god's earth are we supposed to do?"

"If you would just let me explain..."

"Well explain away dear victor explain away, because this I would greatly like to hear"

"It's not that the elders _can't _change the girls back. It's that they _won't,_ not yet any way."

"What the..?"

"They think that you and I, and the girls have some unresolved family issues, parent daughter relationships or something, I don't know, anyway they think that this would be the perfect time to help us resolve those issues"

"What issues? I don't have any issues apart from the fact that I am dead!"

"They wouldn't tell me, we have to figure it out by ourselves, and when we do, when we learn to function as a proper family, that's when the spell will be broken and everyone will revert to their proper ages"

During all this Victor had kept his gaze firmly on the top of a nearby lampshade. Now he looked up slowly to see how his ex-wife had taken the news. Patty had dropped down into the rocking chair and was staring blankly at the wall in front of her. She turned her head to meet Victor's eyes; "I don't think I can do this" was all she said.

££££££££££££££££££££

Down in the kitchen Chris had succeeded in feeding his mother and his aunts and was just finishing off cleaning the breakfast dishes. The door to the sun room was ajar and he could see the 3 of them on the floor, Paige playing with a big teddy bear that was almost the same size as her, Phoebe and Piper were some distance apart, huddled together furtively whispering about something. He crept towards the doorway to see if he could listen to their conversation.

"Phoebe!" Piper was saying "Just listen! This" she brandished a piece of paper with what looked to be the floor plan of P3 on it, "is a treasure map. Okay?"

"Okay"

"Good, now I am the captain, and you are the pirate and we got to..."

"Why am I the stupid pirate, I wanna be the captain"

"I am the captain, cos I am the oldest and you hafta to do everything I say"

"Do not"

"Do too"

"Do not"

"Do you wanna find the buried treasure or not?"

"Guess"

"Good, I am the captain, you are the pirate and we gonna find the treasure, which is up there"

"In attic?"

"Yes, we gotta be real quiet, cos we don't want no grown-ups to catch us and share the treasure with us 'kay?"

"'kay"

"Let's go" The two removed their slippers and began to creep across the floor in bare feet. The pad pad pad sound of tiny feet soon indicated they were not alone.

"Paige!" Piper whirled round to find her sister standing there.

"Gah?" came the baby's reply, as she smiled at her big sister

"You can't come with us your too little, you'll slow us down"

"nuh?" the baby's face fell.

"Piper" Chris decided it was time to interrupt, "if you can't play nicely all together, then you can't play at all" he admonished, recalling what his mother used to tell him and Wyatt when they were little.

Piper paused, as if realising on some level that she has heard these words before.

"Ugh alright" She stomped toward Paige, bent down and picked her up roughly, settling her on her hip. "Better?" she asked Chris.

"Much" he replied, as Paige planted a big wet kiss on Pipers cheek "see she loves you"

"Stupid baby" Piper muttered, though not really meaning it. "Come on!" she barked at Phoebe, and the 3 of them set off on their "adventure"

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: 1.in case anyone's wondering Peony is pronounced 'fay-o-nee'**

**2. I have no idea of any names of shops which sell kids clothes in the USA, so you're getting the British version!**

**Chapter 7**

Wyatt Halliwell had just about managed to drag himself out of bed and into the landing and was debating the merits of showering first or eating, when he heard the noise of small children scampering up the stairs.

He smiled as he saw his mother and his aunts, trying to desperately to be quiet but failing miserably, reach the second floor. He was kind of enjoying being in the past even though the whole age reversal was freaking him out. It also amazed him how much mini Piper looked like his younger sister Peony, not that he would be getting a younger sister if his mother wasn't reverted back soon. _"Don't worry"_ he thought to himself _"Grandma and grandpa will think of something." _

He passed by the trio assembled at the top of the stairs.

"You ain't us, you ain't seen nothing right!" Piper hissed at him in her best pirate accent.

"No, nothing" he smiled ruffling her hair, before carrying on downstairs.

Inside the master bedroom, Victor had managed to calm Patty down, who was now starting to see things in a more positive light.

"we can do this can't we?" she asked victor.

"sure we can, we did it the first time round"

"humph"

"What?"

"well, you weren't there a whole lot of the time"

"I've told you before, you mother wouldn't.."

"alright, enough, lets not get into that now"

Raised voices from outside caught their attention.

"Paige I'm not carrying anymore your too heavy" Piper was insisting.

"nahh" The baby was grabbing onto Piper's t-shirt, resisiting all efforts to put her on the floor.

"Yes"

"Piper don't drop her" Phoebe shouted.

"I'm not going to drop her" Piper exclaimed as Victor and Patty flung the bedroom door open to find their daughters.

"Now look" Phoebe sulked, noticing that their parents had discovered them and would no doubt put an end to their 'adventure'.

"Take it" Piper handed the baby to Patty.

Victor looked at Piper and Phoebe, both in their matching dungaree and t-shirt combos, rumpled from having been slept in, sporting stains from breakfast and last night's dinner. Paige in a little pink dress which bore the marks of apple sauce down the front.

"I think I know what our first task is…."

XXX

2 hours later, a pushchair bound Paige, Patty Victor, Phoebe and Piper stood in the children's section of Marks and Spancer, while Piper perused a row of brightly coloured t-shirts.

"I have a bad feeling about all this " Patty muttered.

"Why? Surely you did all this the first time round?" Victor puzzled.

"It was different in the 70s" Patty explained " mother and I mande a lot of their clothes, and for thing like shopping I only ever used to take them out 2 at a time. Besides, back then, little girls looked like little girls, now they dress like little adults"

"How hard can it be?" Victor exclaimed.

Patty chose to ignore him "Piper, honey pick one"

"I wanna blue one!"

"but they don't have blue, what about yellow?"

"Yellow's stupid, I want blue" she brooded, crossing her arms.

Patty sighed. "Phoebe how about you?"

"I want this" Phoebe walked over to the next rail and grabbed a pink fairy dress costume.

"darling that's more of a Halloween costume"

"but I want this" she pouted, clutching the dress to her

"I want doesn't get Phoebe Jane" Victor warned her.

"I don't care, I want this!" Phoebe shouted.

"okay, okay" Patty gave in " we'll take the dress"

Victor raised an eyebrow

"well, she has to wear something and I don't want a showdown right here in the store" Patty explained.

"come on" she rounded up Phoebe and Piper who was reluctantly holding several non-blue t shirts and jeans "let's go try them on"

Patty pushed them into the changing room. Victor went to grab the push chair and join them.

"at least you're not being as awkward as your Sisters" he said to Paige. Looking down he noticed that the push chair was empty.

"Patty!" he cried

"what?" she stuck her head out of the changing room.

"Paige is missing"

The colour drained form her face. "How could you let her go missing?" she screamed

"I didn't let her go missing!" Victor was indignant "she was strapped in"

"She can orb" Patty hissed. "son't just stand there, go look for her!"

"Paige, Paige" Victor called, scanning the floor as he retraced his steps, his heart beating in his ears. She may not be his daughter, but she was still only an innocent baby.

"Is this who you're looking for?" A shop assistant stepped out of nowhere, Paige in her arms.

"Oh thank god" Victor was relieved "there you are"

"wuh" Paige smiled mischievously.

"okay, baby go to Daddy" the assistant handed her to Victor.

"Oh, I'm not her father" Victor explained, and he couldn't be sure but he thought he saw a little frown cross the baby's face. "I'm, just….nevermind " he finished noting the confused look from the shop assistant.

"come on madam, let's get you back to mummy".

Vicot arrived back at the changing rooms to find a relieved Patty.

"look here little missy" she said, once Paige was safely back in her arms "no more orbing in public okay"

"ya"

"good".

"are we ready to pay and go?" Victor asked as Piper appeared in her street clothes, holding her new clothes.

"Yep" Phoebe bounced out still dressed in the fairy dress.

"Phoebe" Victor began.

"Leave it" Patty interrupted "let's just get home"

TBC.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own charmed!**

**Chapter 8**

While Victor and Patty were wrangling the girls, Leo was enjoying some quality time with his sons back at the manor.

Chris was effortlessly cooking a meal for them, while Wyatt worked round him, cleaning up the kitchen.

Leo smiled at the pair as they interacted. Wyatt, feeling a pair of eyes on him as he scrubbed the countertop, turned to face his father.

"Dad you're doing it again!"

"Doing what?"

"staring at us, you kept doing it all last night too"

"no I didn't" Leo flustered, slightly embarrassed that it had been so obvious

" Yeah dad you were" Chris added, "every time I turned round you had some kind of a goofy grin on your face. What gives?"

"Nothing – I'm just happy y'know, that you two grow up happy and healthy, and you get on so well"

"why would we not get on?" Wyatt puzzled "I mean, we've wound each other up over the years, had the occasional argument, but we're still brothers"

"No, reason, it's just you never know.."

"Come to think about it, dad, why are we here?"

"you said, yourself, a spell backfired"

"Yes, but the spell was cast in order to help settle unresolved parenting issues, we all know that grandma and grandpa have enough of those to fill a book, but why would you have issues with us" Chris pressed

"Yeah, Just us, I mean, why isn't Peony here too?" Wyatt wondered

"Wyatt!" Chris hissed

"What?" Wyatt remained oblivious

"Future consequences – did you learn nothing in "Dimensions and Vortexes: An Introduction to Time Travel', when we studied it at school?"

Leo in the meanwhile realised that he was between a rock and a hard place, this Chris was every bit as perceptive as the one who had faded in his arms, he wouldn't rest until he got an answer. However, this Chris had also had a happy upbringing in a loving family, and Leo didn't want to shatter that by revealing what happened in the alternative timeline.

"Let's just say, we got a visitor once, you mother and I, who gave us a glance at how the future might have been, and we didn't like what we saw"

"How so? – what did we enter the dark side?" Wyatt joked

The colour drained from Leo's face and he swayed slightly on his chair.

"Dad!" Wyatt panicked "Dad I was only joking.."

Leo remained mute.

"How could we evil?" he demanded of his younger.

"I don't know" Chris shrugged

"It doesn't matter" Leo finally spoke "I shouldn't have..shouldn't have mentioned anything, "

"You couldn't just keep something like that from us" Wyatt cried

"I said, it doesn't matter, it was another timeline, a 'what may have been'" Leo began trying to back track frantically. " I was a horrible father, who abandoned his children, so there you have it, that's my issue, I was scared that despite all my best efforts, I would let you down again"

"But you didn't!" Chris' primary concern was to comfort his father "You were all ways there for us, and when you couldn't show up to the odd swimming competition, or parents evening we always knew that there was a very good reason"

"Really?"

"Really" This time it was Wyatt's turn to reassure him "You and mum were the best, still are the best. Yeah you drive us mad on occasion, but we wouldn't trade you"

"That's all I needed to know" Leo smiled

"so about this alternative future thing.." Wyatt asked

"No" Leo's voice was firm "I am not getting into that. Trust me"

"Okay" Wyatt and Chris agreed almost reluctantly – they did after all know that their father always had a good reason for the things he did.

"Good" Leo smiled "So who is this Peony…..?".

XXX

Patty sighed as laid 3 sets of fresh underwear and pyjamas on the bed in Paige's room. Even though she was bone tired she had enjoyed today, spending time with girls and Victor as a family, something that had rarely happened even before her death.

"Patty" Victor yelled from the bathroom where he was supervising bath time "could you bring some more towels"

"sure" Patty grabbed a few and headed down the corridor.

She entered the bathroom to find 3 little dark haired girls sat in a row in the tub, all smiling, and the eldest 2 blowing bubbles. It would have been a Kodak moment except for the fact that…

"…why is Phoebe _still_ wearing that fairy dress?" Patty demanded

"because she refused to take it off and I was too tired to argue" Victor replied

"so you dumped her in the tub with in on?"

"yeah, I just scrubbed round it" Victor explained

"Honestly Victor, sometimes I wonder if you have an ounce of common sense"

"At least I succeeded in bathing them without a temper tantrum" He handed squirming baby Paige to Patty to dry and then proceeded to lift Piper out and attempted to towel dry her hair.

"Pity you didn't think about how we are going to convince Phoebe to take the dress off so she can get dry?" Patty gestured toward her middle child who was still splashing in the tub.

"You always have to find fault don't you"

"Look at me mummy, I'm a ballerina" Phoebe called standing up and stretching her arms out.

"Yes, that's wonderful darling" Patty called as she covered Paige with talcum powder "Victor, I'll I'm saying is.."

"I said, look at me!" Phoebe shouted

Before her startled parents could say anything, she made to leap into the air like she had seen Ballerinas do on television. However the water that was still in the bottom of the draining bath caused her to slip, she tumbled forward, and there followed the almighty crack of skull hitting metallic taps, resonated through the room.


	9. Chapter 9

a/n: In answer to the question about Peony - She is the younger sister of Chris and Wyatt, she's first mentioned in Chapter 7, and no, she won't be appearing in this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own charmed

**Chapter 9**

"i'm not over reacting i just want to check that she is okay" Victor insisted as they sat in the waiting room of the casualty department, Phoebe, her fairy dress showing beneath her dressing gown, stretched out asleep on across their laps..

"but Leo healed her - don't you trust him?" Patty questioned

"of course i do" Victor replied, but the sincerity was lacking from his voice.

"You don't do you? After all these years, you still don't trust Whitelighters, just because of …"

"THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU AND SAM " Victor shouted, before realising where he was " and every bit to do with _our_ youngest daughter who was knocked unconscious for 5 minutes, i just need an x-ray or something to double check that no internal damage was done"

"Fine, but I don't see why.."

"I don't want to talk about it"

"Uh-oh" Patty pointed to the blue orb cloud that had just disappeared behind the row of vending machines. Chris presently appeared, balancing Paige on one hip, a nap sack over one shoulder and held Piper in the other hand.

"what are you doing here? Is everything okay at home?" Victor asked.

"Dad sent me" Chris explained. "He got severely reprimanded by the other Elders for healing Phoebe, apparently the whole point of this 'situation' is to see how you and Grandpa cope alone, without magic or at least with as little magic as possible. Anyway the rules it seems also, extend to baby sitting". He handed Paige over to Patty.

"why are they being so difficult?" Patty grumbled

"You know the elders, they have their reasons" Chris turned to his mother "Bye Bye Pippi"

"can't you stay and play with me?" Piper asked, waving her rag doll at him

"Fraid not kiddo" He knelt down so that he was level with her. Piper's eyes filled with tears at the thought of her play mate who had had her undivided attention for the past hour while her parents fussed over Phoebe was now leaving.

"hey don't cry" Chris gave her a hug and smoothed her hair like she had done with him when he was little "we'll have our tea party tomorrow, okay"

"'kay, cos i like you, you're my friend"

"Yeah, I like you too" he stifled a laugh and stood up and patted her on the head.

"Right I'll see you guys later" he said to his grandparents and walked toward the bathrooms where he could orb away in privacy.

"Phoebe Halliwell, we're ready to see you now" The nurse came forward 

"okay Phoebe, wake up sweetie" Victor shook her gently "lets go see the nice doctor"

"I want mummy to go with me" she demanded

"alright" Victor handed her to her mother a little upset at his youngest daughters rejection of him.

"We'll be back soon" Patty told him as she followed the nurse toward the X-Ray department. Sighing, Victor sat back down in his seat, and prepared himself for a long wait.

XXX 

45 minutes later and there was still no sign of Patty and Phoebe. Victor in the meanwhile had fallen asleep in the plastic chair, and was woken by Piper shaking his arm.

"Daddy I'm board, can we go home yet?" she moaned

"Yes darling, just as soon as mummy and Phoebe get back" He soothed. 

"Stupid Phoebe, falling over"

"Piper! Don't be rude"

"sorry" 

"good" 

"stupid little sisters" she muttered.

"Piper! don't say that, not in front of Paige" he indicated to the baby on his lap

"But they are!" She insisted

"I've just about had enough of your insolence young lady, now if you can't say anything good don't say anything at all"

"But" she protested

"Not another word"

"But Daddy, I don't think Paige is very well"

Victor looked down at the baby. She was so still that he had presumed she was sleeping, but now he realised that she was awake, her eyes glazed over staring listlessly ahead. He felt her forehead, she was burning up, he lifted her little arm to try and move her and noticed an ominous purple rash on her inner arm.

He bolted up and dashed to the reception desk, "it's my um, my , my, my.."he looked at Paige lifeless in his arms, a wave of pain rushed over him, he wasn't quite sure if it was entirely because she was ill, or because she was a living reminder of Patty's infidelity. "It's the baby" he spluttered, He held her out to a passing nurse, stopping her in her tracks " Look, the rash"

The nurse took Paige in her arms, she pressed down on the rash, the spots did not disappear. "Come with me" she beckoned Victor, who in turn grabbed Piper

"ah Doctor Hayes" the Nurse approached a white coated man who was just leaving a cubicle "I think we have a suspected case of meningitis"

XXX 

"And you can have any colour lollipop you like because you have been such a good girl" The doctor handed Phoebe a box of sweets to chose from

Patty smiled fondly.

"She's perfectly fine" the doctor told her "No damage done, amazing really. You're free to go"

"Thank you doctor" Patty took Phoebe's hand

"come on little miss, lets get you home"

Walking into the waiting room Patty scanned the chairs , but found no sign of Victor and the other girls.

"Excuse me" she asked the receptionist, "I'm looking for my husband , he was waiting here with our other daughters, he's about 5 ft 8", grey hair, was with a 6 year old and a baby, name's Victor Halliwell, and.."

"Oh," the receptionist knew exactly who she was talking about "are you the mother...?"

XXX 

"Is she going to be okay?" Victor asked worriedly as the doctors surrounded the tiny figure on the bed.

"I don't know" came the doctors reply "but we need to get drugs into her, and for that we need to do a lumber punch immediately"

"so do one" Victor ordered

"we will" he handed him a clip board, " we just need parental agreement, you need to sign below"

Victor paused

"You _are_ her father?" The doctor puzzled

Victor looked at the now unconscious baby, she was beautiful, and looked almost exactly like Prue, Sam may have been her father, but she was most definitely Patty's child., and Phoebe and Piper's little sister.

"Yes", he replied "she's my daughter" He grabbed the form and signed.

XXX 

Patty raced along the hospital corridor, she was running as fast as she could given that she was carrying a small child. Approaching the room toward the end she found Piper sat on a chair, holding her rag doll.

"Mummy" she cried

"Take her" Patty handed Phoebe to her "where's your father?" 

"in there" Piper pointed to the adjacent room.

Patty burst through the doors

She found Paige, asleep in a cot, connected to her IV, Victor sat next to her holding her hand

"Oh my God, how is she?" Patty cried

"Doctors say she will be fine" Victor wrapped his arm around his shell shocked wife "she's had the medication, and she's a little fighter, she just needs to sleep it all off"

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost her…this is my punishment isn't it?

"Punishment?" 

"For giving her up for adoption, for giving her away. I spent years and years consumed by guilt, even though mother told me that we did it for the best to protect her, I couldn't help but feel like an awful mother. I dreamed about being able to keep her, I craved it, and now i finally get the chance to be her mother and she is going to be taken away from me again" Patty burst into tears.

"Patty, you listen to me" Victor cupper her chin in his hand, and lifted her head so that she was looking into his eyes ", Firstly Paige is going to be fine, she is responding well to the treatment, the doctor reckons she just needs to sleep and let her body fight it out. Secondly, you are not a bad person, you were in a complicated situation, and you did what you thought was best for your child, and as parents that's all we can do"

"You think?"

"I know"

" You sound like an expert" She sniffed.

"We all know I'm hardly that, and if I could have my time over things would be very different, the only good thing is that I can make a fresh start with Wyatt and Chris"

"From the little I've seen they appear to adore you"

"Well I hope that continues, because they are both remarkable young men" 

"Excuse me" The doctor came back in the room, breaking the moment, and began to look at the notes on Paige's chart "Let's see how your little girl is progressing shall we.."

XXX

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**

**Chapter 10**

"You're not drinking it properly" A contrite Piper bossed her 'tea party' guests, 2 days later.

Following Paige's brush with death the Elders had relaxed their rules on babysitting, and consequently Chris and Wyatt had been roped into looking after their mother. Some how they had managed to bend their 6ft frames into the tiny plastic chairs that were supposed to be used by their younger counterparts, and now they, and Phoebe were pretending to be guests at Princess Pipers table.

"Then show me how" Wyatt told his mother, amazed that even as a child she still managed to order him about.

"Like this" Piper marched up to him and moved his little finger so that it stuck out at an angle.

"Thank you" He replied in a high pitched voice.

"Does Her Highness wish for another beverage?" Chris asked, holding out a pink plastic teapot containing apple juice.

"Yes please" Piper answered.

"Hey" Victor called as he and Patty came through the front door, a bouncy Paige in her mothers arms.

"You're back" Wyatt and Chris attempted to untangle themselves from the tiny furniture.

"Yep" Patty smiled, "Clean bill of health for Paigey here"

The baby giggled and immediately went to grab some of her mothers hair "Yes, definitely back to normal" Victor commented.

"Mummy, Daddy" Piper called, "come join our tea party"

"Yeah" Phoebe chimed in, "It's lotsa fun"

"Sure is a riot" Wyatt rolled his eyes

"I think I may have done irreparable damage to my back" Chris groaned, "Those plastic seats are awful"

"Well they are made for your baby selves" Leo told them as he entered the living room with a fresh round of drinks for the adults.

"well?" Piper stomped her foot impatiently witing for her parents to accept her invitation.

"Piper, what have we said about foot stomping?" Leo gently reprimanded her. Piper pouted, but did as she was told.

"We're a bit tired just now, we're going to sit and have some grown up time for a bit" Victor told his eldest daughter, as he and Patty sunk onto the sofa.

"Wimp" Patty whispered as she sat back, cuddling Paige.

"I don't see you rushing over there to perch half of your behind on the tiniest chair in the world" Victor countered.

"I'm far too old, and dead"

"Exactly, which means it won't hurt you as much"

"Gah" Paige squirmed and pointed to Piper and the others.

"you want to go join them?" Patty asked, "Okay, but be careful now" She placed Paige on the floor who immediately crawled off to be with her sisters.

"Look at them" Victor commented, pointing to the happy, though at the same time weird family scene in front of him, "make's you realise how much we missed out on"

" Yes" Patty acknowledged "That's the one thing, I would give anything for, more time with my children when they were growing up. At least, we've kind of had a taste of that these past couple of days, both the good and the bad. I'm glad I'm finally getting chance to spend time with Paige too."

"That's the thing about life, you always have to take the rough with the smooth. And if it's any consolation Patty, if things had worked out differently, if your mother had let me be in their life, I would have been there for the girls, every step of the way, I would have taken care of them, _all_ of them."

"You mean.."

"I mean , Paige too, as I said, if things had been different"

"You're a good man Victor "

"You're not too bad yourself"

Victor's words were drowned out by an explosion, and a flash of bright light. Sounds of "what the hell..?" could be heard above the noise of a baby crying, the smoke cleared to reveal 3 adult Charmed Ones, in a heap in the centre of the floor, a befuddled blond haired toddler sat on a chair, and a scared baby Chris crying in his bassinet.

"Peanut!" Adult Piper was the first to come to her senses and rushed to soothe her crying child.

"Mum, Dad, what's going on?" Phoebe asked as she picked herself up from the floor.

"You mean you don't remember anything?" Patty asked

"Remember what?" Paige replied rubbing her head.

"I think you had best sit down" Victor began

XXX

"…and then you changed back" Patty concluded.

"No way" Piper exclaimed

"Yes way" Leo told her, "you were quite the bossy little madam to Chris and Wyatt"

"Oh no, I probably scared them for life"

"I doubt it, I think they will cope"

"Did they seem okay? How was Chris?" Piper fretted

"Chris seemed very happy, they both turn into fine young men" Leo reassured her.

"I still don't believe it" Phoebe interrupted.

"We didn't think you would, so we got this done" Patty brought out an oblong shaped object and handed it to Phoebe. She turned it over, it was a framed photo of herself and Piper as children, taken in a studio, set against a background of blue clouds. They were sitting together, with a dark haired baby wedged between them.

"Holy crap that's me!" Paige stabbed at the photo.

"We were in town and there was a photographer set up in the corner of a department store so we thought that we would have a photo done of the 3 of you"

"Look at you, you were so cute" Phoebe pointed at baby Paige

"Yeah Yeah" Paige blushed bright red

Patty took Paige to the side. "I hope you don't mind, but I had this taken too" She handed Paige a photo, of Patty with baby Paige on her lap "I had one taken with each of the other girls on their 1st birthdays, but I never had the chance to with you ..."

Paige stared wordlessly at the piece of card

"...but I completely understand if you don't wont to keep it or anything,..I"

"No" Paige said gently "Mum, thank you, I'll treasure it"

"No problem" Patty held her arms out for a hug.

"So, um Leo" Victor approached his son-in-law "I take it we passed this challenge then?" he pointed to his fully grown daughters.

"Yes" Leo replied "With flying colours. Patty needed to deal with the guilt that she felt about not being able to be there for Paige when she was a baby. You needed to overcome your issue about not being able to spend time with your children and help do the little day to day things for them when they were growing up, and you also needed to deal with the slight resentment you felt about Patty having another child with Sam and not with you. You both resolved these issues. I, in turn needed to overcome my fear that I would be a bad father to my children, and I did. Hence everybody has been restored."

"I'm sure there could have been an easier way to deal with all this"

"Maybe, but deep down you did enjoy being a hands on dad again…"

"well, I guess" Victor smiled.

"Hey what's all this whispering about?" Piper asked.

"Nothing" Patty told her.

"So, if I remember correctly, before all these shenanigans happened, we were here for a wiccaning?" Victor said loudly.

"Yeah, I think we need to get it over and done with before I change my mind" Piper jiggled Chris up and down.

"Alright Alright" The voice of Grams preceded her entrance into the room.

"Why there you are Penny! How nice it is for you to drop by" Victor commented

"I wish I could say the feeling was mutual but hey ho" Penny sniped

" Mother, given the fact that you were originally responsible for all this, I don't think now is the time for sarcasm" Patty told her.

"And, considering that I haven't forgiven you for casting a spell on my children to begin with" Piper added.

"what is this, pick on Penny day?" Penny questioned.

"Gee, there's so much love in this room right now" Paige drawled.

"Okay" Phoebe took charge, "Grams you're sorry that you cast a spell without Piper's permission. Piper you accept Grams apology and understand that she was only trying to help. Dad, you apologise for being rude to Grams, and Mum, you realise that this isn't entirely Grams fault. Grams you graciously accept their apologies, without the need to add any more comments and express delight at seeing everyone here all together. Is that everything?"

The assembled adults stared at each other open mouthed.

"Good" Phoebe concluded "Shall we begin?"

"The attic?" Grams gestured and made her way toward the stairs, followed by Piper and Leo, each with a child in their arms and Phoebe and Paige hurrying along behind them. Finally bringing up the rear were Patty and Victor, Victor held out his hand for Patty to take and together they slowly climbed the stairs , pausing only to place the framed photo of the 3 little Charmed Ones on the hall table. A whimsical smile hovered on Patty's lips, she gripped Victors hand a bit tighter, and they continued their journey toward the attic.

**THE END**


End file.
